In the art of coin-operated vending machines, there exists hundreds of thousands of machines particularly suited for vending a wide variety of food items but which are not provided with cooler or refrigeration means which enables them to handle and vend temperature-sensitive or perishable food items that must be maintained at or below a safe temperature; for example, about 70.degree. F. Such machines are, therefore, only capable of vending non-temperature sensitive or durable food items that can be safely subjected to temperatures substantially greater than 70.degree. F. and/or can only be used to vend temperature-sensitive, perishable or delicate food items during cold seasons or in cold environments where the ambient temperatures to which the machines are subjected is unlikely to exceed 70.degree. F.
As a result of the above, vending of food items in and by the vast majority of vending machines that do not include refrigeration means is materially limited and both the services to be offered and the profits to be earned by those who operate and service those machines are notably adversely affected. Accordingly, there has been a long-recognized want and need for refrigerated vending machines.
The prior art has sought to satisfy the above-noted want and need for refrigerated vending machines that are capable of vending a vast number of different temperature-sensitive or delicate food items by constructing vending machines with refrigeration systems built into them. For many vending machine operators to adopt and use costly refrigerated machines in place of their existing or old, non-refrigerated machines would require that they scrap or otherwise dispose of their old machines. Few vending machine operators are capable and/or willing to make the capital investment that would be incurred to replace their old machines with new refrigerated machines.
To my knowledge and belief, some persons, in the past, have sought to develop refrigeration systems that could be related to old or existing non-refrigerated vending machines but have met with little or no success. The reason such past efforts by others have failed to bring about satisfactory results resides in the fact that they have required excessive modification and/or customizing of the old machines. That modification and/or customizing of old machines, in addition to being excessively costly, has all too often resulted in unsightly assemblages which have proved to be totally unacceptable.
Other past efforts have been made to provide a simple and inexpensive box-like refrigeration unit, in the nature of an attachment, that can be affixed to the exterior of old, non-refrigerated vending machines to cool and maintain the interior temperatures of the machine at a desired, low temperature. While such attachment units that can be effectively related to one or a very limited number of different makes and models of vending machines might have been made, it is my understanding and belief that no such unit has previously been made that is such that it can be satisfactorily and effectively related to a sufficiently large number of the many different makes and models of old vending machines to warrant or justify entering into regular manufacture and sale thereof. The reason for the foregoing resides in the fact that, though the exterior cabinets of vending machines are substantially standardized box-like structures, the interior structure and design of the many different makes and models of old machines varies widely and is such that there are relatively few different makes and models or machines in which air inlet and outlet ports can be located in similar locations and/or in similar patterns, in the cabinets of the machines, to attain effective communication with a single design of refrigeration unit positioned at the exteriors of the cabinets whereby efficient circulation of cool air into, through and thence out of the machines can be attached.
In accordance with the foregoing, the need and want for a substantially universal attachment-type refrigeration unit that can be effectively attached and related to the great majority of different makes and models of old, non-refrigerated vending machines that are now in regular use has not been satisfied by the prior art.